As the airline prepares to celebrate its centennial next week, Finnair Cargo is moving toward totally self-sustainable energy production. At Helsinki Airport in Finland, Finnair Cargo added 1,790 more solar panels to the 1,200 panels that were already there when the terminal was first built. The installations took place throughout the course of the summer and fall.
Following the upgrading, these solar panels will supply more than one-third (37%) of Finnair Cargo’s yearly electricity demand within the COOL Nordic Cargo Hub.
This increases to 100% on sunny days, at which point the COOL terminal can produce all the electricity it needs on its own. Any extra energy produced is fed into Finnair’s other airport facilities.
“With this addition, the COOL Nordic Cargo Hub will be the third largest solar panel energy production unit in Finland,” stated Gabriela Hiitola, SVP of Finnair Cargo. The solar power plant has a maximum output of over 1.1 MW, which more than triples our output.
It’s evident that the aviation sector is still waiting on significant ways to lower flying emissions. But in the interim, we continue to strive for more environmentally friendly operations across the board.
As part of its ongoing commitment to environmentally friendly practices, the Nordic airline is also mounting 645 solar panels on the top of its hangar for aircraft maintenance in Helsinki. The 2018 opening of Finnair’s COOL Cargo facility was planned with sustainability in mind. Not only do the solar panels supply a portion of the energy required for the terminal’s operations, but waste management and operational efficiency have also been meticulously designed.
Source- Travel daily